Fears that graft suspects will use a court ruling that lifted Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan from an indictment by the Corruption Eradication Commission’s (KPK) became a reality on Monday.

Former Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali filed a pretrial motion in South Jakarta District Court against the KPK, seeking dismissal of his case and claiming the anti-graft authorities erred in naming him as a corruption suspect for allegedly mismanaging hajj funds.

The same court’s judge, Sarpin Rizaldi, rejected KPK’s indictment of Budi on unusual grounds: He ruled that KPK lacked jurisdiction to charge Budi because anti-graft body is statutorily limited to prosecuting public officials who cause more than Rp 1 billion ($77,000) in state losses.

The judge determined Budi wasn’t a state official, despite his position as the National Police’s human resources director, and that KPK had not proved more than Rp 1 billion in state losses. The ruling has been controversial among legal scholars, who say Sarpin erred in expanding the scope of permissible issues, namely evidential findings, that may be argued in pretrial hearings.

Suryadharma’s lawyer openly acknowledged Budi’s victory inspired this latest play, signaling what may be the beginning of a flooding of similar pleas by graft suspects seeking a legal loophole to escape punishment. More worrisome, it could also undermine KPK’s statutory authority and nation’s progress in fighting corruption.

Looking at the record of Indonesian judges, there is sufficient reason to be worried. Most graft suspects are cashed up and have paid to get their way before. While courts and judges need to reform, there’s hope that Supreme Court (MA) will toss out Sarpin’s new loophole. The public must let the judiciary know we will not stand for this injustice.

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[This story was first published at 5:57 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 23, 2015, and this update includes details and comments]

Jakarta. Former minister Suryadharma Ali has filed a pretrial motion against the national antigraft agency on Monday for naming him a graft suspect last year, proving predictions that Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan’s recent success in a similar move would inspire other graft suspects to follow suit — further undermining Indonesia’s battle against corruption.

Suryadharma’s legal team filed the motion with the South Jakarta District Court, the same court that granted — to much public outcry — the National Police chief candidate’s pretrial motion against the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for naming him a suspect in a bribery case last month.

Suryadharma’s lawyer, Humphrey R. Djemat, alleged on Monday that the antigraft agency had violated the law by naming the former religious affairs minister as a suspect in May last year over the embezzlement of hajj funds.

Humphrey accused the KPK of arbitrarily declaring his client as a suspect, after insufficient investigation and while lacking evidence.

“Naming [Suryadharma as a suspect] was illegitimate. He was named as a suspect too early; at a time when the investigation had just begun,” Humphrey told state-run news agency Antara. “The KPK only began calling witnesses and gathering evidence after they named Suryadharma a suspect. Additionally, the KPK has yet to clarify how much the state had supposedly lost.”

Humphrey admitted that Suryadharma decided to file the pretrial motion after Judge Sarpin Rizaldi, the sole judge who presided over Budi’s pretrial motion, ruled in favor of the police general.

The ruling ignored the public outcry over efforts to undermine the KPK in the wake of Budi being named a suspect.

Meanwhile, all four KPK leaders were reported to police over various old cases, leading police to name two — including chairman Abraham Samad — as suspects in what is widely seen as attempts to discredit the KPK leaders and weaken the highly respected antigraft body in retaliation for going after Budi.

Suryadharma, former chief of the United Development Party (PPP), has been charged with mismanaging the country’s multi-billion dollar hajj fund during his time as minister.

The KPK has at this stage charged him only with embezzlement, but Suryadharma could also face money-laundering charges as, according to information from the Financial Transaction Report and Analysis Center (PPATK), his wealth has grown dramatically.

Suryadharma skipped the KPK’s questioning last week, with his lawyer reporting he had been hospitalized.

Indonesia Corruption Watch researcher Donal Fariz meanwhile blames Judge Sarpin for Suryadharma’s move, saying the judge has opened the floodgates for lawbreakers to avoid scrutiny and disrespect ongoing legal processes against them.

“Suryadharma’s action is the beginning of a domino effect created by Sarpin’s rule in favor of Budi. Sarpin has created this dilemma. If the court rejects [Suryadharma’s] motion, the public would question the court’s credibility. The court would be viewed as being inconsistent,” Donal told the Jakarta Globe on Monday.

“And this won’t stop with Suryadharma. Other suspects will likely follow suit and these would be an insult to our law enforcement [efforts],” he added.

Donal said the Supreme Court must take the responsibility and address the debacle immediately to prevent other crime suspects from filing pretrial motions to challenge charges — not only against the KPK, but also the police and the courts.

He suggested that the Supreme Court should look into the KPK’s appeal against Sarpin’s verdict, while working with the Judicial Commission to probe allegations of an ethics violation by Sarpin, filed by several anti-corruption groups, including ICW.

“The only way to stop this is by canceling Budi’s pretrial verdict,” Donal said.

The KPK’s appeal against Sarpin’s verdict was previously rejected by the South Jakarta court, which argues verdicts on pretrial motions can not be appealed and that it was unnecessary to bring the case to the Supreme Court.

Prominent lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis said he doubted investigations into Sarpin’s alleged ethical violation would end misconceptions around pretrial motions that the judge has created.

He blamed Sarpin for the mess, accusing the judge of siding with law violators.

“It is no surprise that Suryadharma files the pretrial motion. This is a consequence Judge Sarpin couldn’t foresee when he decided to grant Budi’s motion,” Todung said.

Further Coverage

Editorial: Supreme Court Must Close Budi’s Loophole

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Jakarta. Federal International Finance, a unit of Indonesia’s biggest automotive distributor Astra International, plans to sell between Rp 2 trillion and Rp 3 trillion ($154.6 million-$232 million) worth of bonds within the next two months to help finance expansion, a FIF executive said Monday.

The upcoming bond sale is part of the financing firm’s larger plan to sell up to Rp 10 trillion worth of bonds through multiple sales.

FIF head of treasury and funding Jerry Fandy said the company will first observe market conditions before offering the bonds to investors.

“If the interest rate is promising, we will offer [bonds] again in the second half next year,” Jerry told Investor Daily.

In addition to raising capital through bond sales, FIF will also seek further funding from bank loans.

Last year, the company secured $335 million from foreign lenders. The cash reserve will be used to help fund its  automotive financing division, for which the company has set a target of Rp 28 trillion, up from Rp 26 trillion in 2014.

A majority of FIF’s business comes from the financing of motorcycle purchases, particularly Honda motorbikes sold by Astra Honda Motor, a 50-50 joint venture between Astra International and Honda Motor Company.

The company also aims to offer financing services to retailers.

“We will try to tap the retail market, because the prospects are hug,” said FIF president director Suhartono.

FIF has also drawn up plans to enter the interior design sector by collaborating with electronics companies and offering clients to chance to furnish their dwellings with various electronic devices.

Investor Daily

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Jakarta. President Joko Widodo has planned a $385 million expansion of a toll road in Banten, to be completed in 2018, as the government seeks to develop a special economic zone in Tanjung Lesung in the province’s district of Pandeglang.

“I expect the toll road to be completed within three years. I have asked for the toll road construction to start immediately,” Joko said in a statement distributed by the Coordinating Economics Affairs Ministry  on Monday.

The toll road extends 80 kilometers from Serang, the capital of Banten, to Panimbang, the gateway to Tanjung Lesung, a 1,500 hectare area declared a special economic zone for tourism under a 2012 presidential decree.

Joko gave a keynote speech on Monday at a ceremony marking the beginning of operations at the Tanjung Lesung special economic zone.

“This kind of project must be completed quickly because the world is rapidly changing. If we don’t take [the opportunity], other countries will take it,” the president said in the statement.

Located roughly 180 kilometers — or around four hours’ drive without traffic — from Jakarta, there is still poor road access to Tanjung Lesung, an area known for its scenic beaches.

Beside the toll road, the government also plans to build the Panimbang airport, according to the website of the Pandeglang Regional Planning Board.

Around 250,000 tourists visit Tanjung Lesung every year, thanks to its unspoiled and serene peninsula offering some of the most beautiful beaches on Java Island.

The president called on all stakeholders, including the central government, regional government and investors to take responsibility for the development.

The economic zone is planned to have dozens of hotels offering thousands of rooms.

Tanjung Lesung is developed and will be operated by Banten West Java Tourism Development, a subsidiary of Kawasan Industri Jababeka, an industrial park developer.

“I want the construction of the Serang-Panimbang toll road to be followed up with development within the Tanjung Lesung special economic zone. There will be many hotels, halls for MICE [meeting, incentives, conferences and exhibitions], and a marina for yachts. I ask for all of those to be completed at the same time as the toll road,” Joko said.

Setiawan Mardjuki, president director of Banten West Java Tourism Development, said in accordance with a 2012 governmental decree, the Tanjung Lesung special economic zone must start operating by the end of this month.

“The special zone is meant to boost investment, especially in the tourism sector. So on the national level, tourism sector can contribute 12 percent to national investment from the current 6 percent,” he said.

Joko said the government would give fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to attract more investors to Tanjung Lesung.

Globe Asia

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Jakarta. Bank Rakyat Indonesia, Indonesia’s biggest micro-lender, is aims to boost its fee based income by adding 35,000 new point-of-purchase card swipers across the country.

Fee based income — which lumps together commissions, provisions, and fees from transactions — accounted for 7 percent of the lender’s revenue last year, lagging behind peers Bank Mandiri and private lender Bank Central Asia.

BRI targets to boost the number of its card swiping gizmos to 166,204 in total, from 131,204 last year.

It also seeks to book 14 million in non-cash transactions worth Rp 13 trillion ($1 billion).

This compares to 6.8 million transactions worth Rp 2.7 trillion last year.

“We want our e-channel, which grew very impressively last year in terms of customers, transaction numbers and volume, to grow [faster] this year,” said Budi Satria, BRI’s corporate secretary, on Monday.

Budi said that the lender expects the initiative would, in part, help its fee-based income to expand by 20 percent to 25 percent this year.

BRI’s revenue from fees, commissions, and provisions rose 25 percent to Rp 6.1 trillion last year. Still, this accounted for less than a tenth of BRI’s Rp 84 trillion in revenue last year, mainly coming from its micro-loan business.

Rivals Mandiri booked 12 percent of its revenue from the fees and commissions, while BCA sourced 13 percent of revenue from the fees, in line with their strategy to boost its payments service technology.

GlobeAsia

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